Chapter 1151: It’s Everywhere
Meanwhile, Yan Xuehen and Yun Jianyue’s battle was reaching its climax. But when they heard the terrifying noise, both of them agreed to stop.
“What’s that sound?” Yun Jianyue remarked with a frown. As a grandmaster, she could tell that the entity that had made the noise wasn’t something they should provoke.
“I do not know. I heard it earlier when I was descending into the mines. It is probably a kind of beast,” Yan Xuehen replied. At the same time, her brows furrowed slightly. Zu An didn’t run into that terrifying creature, did he?
Huh? Why am I worried about him?
Yun Jianyue frowned, remarking, “What kind of beast has this kind of terrifying pressure?”
“The world is big; nothing is too bizarre. We should treat it with reverence,” Yan Xuehen said. “How about we just end things here? That creature is no weaker than us. If we fought until both of us were exhausted, it would be bad if the creature took advantage of our weakness then.”
She recalled the result of ‘great danger’ when she had used her divination circle earlier. Back then, she had been quite curious as to how, even with her incredible cultivation, there could be anything that dangerous to her.
At first, she had thought that it was Zu An’s pitch-black dagger, but now, she realized that the great danger probably came from Yun Jianyue or that unknown terrifying creature. She obviously didn’t want to keep fighting at that point.
Yun Jianyue sneered and replied, “It’s just a trifling unknown creature, and yet it’s already made our honorable White Jade Sect Master scared? In that case, just hand over your life sooner!”
She came from the Devil Sect, and her presence carried a natural ferocity. She immediately surged with power when she sensed Yan Xuehen’s intent to withdraw. This is the perfect chance to get revenge for Ah Zu!
When she recalled Zu An’s appearance, her aura became even more vicious. She took out the Empress Lantern, and the dark cave immediately became enveloped in golden light.
“Crazy woman!” Yan Xuehen exclaimed. She obviously knew how powerful the Empress Lantern was! She didn’t dare to underestimate it and quickly used her domain of Absolute Cold.
Both of them had been adversaries for many years. Even after all those years, a victory had never been determined. Now, however, she keenly sensed Yun Jianyue’s killing intent, realizing that there was something wrong with her mood. If the situation continued, she really might suffer grievously. As such, she no longer held back and planned to deal with the woman before her first. Even though the wounds from her battle against Zu An and Yu Yanluo weren’t light, Yun Jianyue was also wounded. There was no reason for her to be scared.
The two grandmasters’ domains began to clash. The interfering laws caused areas to explode one after another. The entire mine began to tremble as if a huge earthquake had occurred. But neither of them could be bothered to worry about that. They now fought seriously, neither side holding back at all. At their level, whichever side held back would be seriously injured.
Meanwhile, Zu An and Yu Yanluo sensed the mines shaking slightly, and the rumbling continued. They couldn't help but look at each other in dismay.
“Don’t tell me Yan Xuehen and that roaring beast are fighting?” Zu An remarked somewhat uneasily. He didn’t know where the mysterious creature had come from.
Would Yan Xuehen be in danger? She was Chuyan’s master after all, and he had used the Gold Phoenix ability on her. He just felt a bit sorry for her somehow.
But he quickly laughed that thought off. She was a powerful grandmaster, someone who could freely roam the world unworried. She was a human-shaped T-rex. The mysterious creature might even be scared if it saw her.
“Let’s go and find Maid Xing’s group first. I can’t help but feel a bit uneasy about this,” Yu Yanluo said while blushing, emerging from his embrace and sorting out her messy clothes.
“Okay,” Zu An replied. However, cursed that mysterious creature to death inwardly. Can’t you shout some other time? I was almost there!
The mood had already been right there, with both of them unable to hold back their emotions anymore, and yet they were suddenly interrupted. The mood was now completely gone and they obviously couldn't continue.
The two entered the pitch-black cave. Because of what had just happened, Yu Yanluo’s face was red and she spoke much less. Even though she was a mature woman, she was as pure as a white sheet of paper. She had almost lost her chastity just then out of a moment of muddle-headedness. Although she was feeling embarrassed, she was also a bit worried about her personal gains and losses. Will he think I’m an easy woman because I agreed to him so easily?
Zu An noticed that there was something off about her. He sighed on purpose and remarked, “Sigh, what a pity.”
Yu Yanluo jumped in fright, asking, “What’s a pity?”
Zu An said, “It’s a pity that there were no spectators. Otherwise, I would have been able to enjoy their jealousy.” After all, considering Yu Yanluo’s identity and her countless pursuers, who knew just how many Rage points he would have been able to farm from them.
Yu Yanluo replied in annoyance, “You freak, how could you let someone else see something like that?!”
“Of course I would only let them see me hug and kiss you. Did you think I was talking about something else?” Zu An replied with a strange expression.
Yu Yanluo was really embarrassed. She quickly swung her fist to hit him. As they fought playfully, the previous awkwardness completely faded.
Zu An suddenly noticed something, however. He exclaimed, “Huh? There seems to be something over there.” He quickly walked over and picked up an item that resembled a palm-sized notebook.
Yu Yanluo followed him over. She cried out in alarm, “This is the memo book of a Yu clan guard!”
Zu An was stunned, saying, “Your clan’s guards really are scholarly too.”
Yu Yanluo explained, “The reason they carry these is because the Yu clan’s guards often need to work in these mines. The mines are full of dangers, and unexpected things happen every day. If the cave collapsed, there might not necessarily be anyone who could provide aid immediately.
“That’s why every single Yu clan guard was eventually assigned a memo book. They would write about their usual missions, and if something happened, it would serve as a keepsake for their clans.”
Her expression became somewhat grim as she spoke. Such things had clearly happened quite often over the years. Each time, she had personally delivered the leftover items to their families. However, even though she always gave them generous compensation, whenever she saw an elderly couple who had lost their son, a young wife who had lost her husband, or a younger child wailing in despair after being orphaned, she felt truly awful.
Zu An had already opened up the booklet. There were quite a few things written inside, but the oldest entries just described ordinary missions. There wasn’t anything really worth paying attention to in them.
But when he read the most recent recordings, he discovered some useful information. He read out, “...The cave seemed to be shaking, but then everything quickly returned to normal. No one treated it as a big deal… A strange black fog has appeared. We don’t know where it came from, but it’s all over the mines… We couldn't get rid of it even after using all sorts of methods…
“The black fog has corrosive properties. Normal soldiers’ bodies begin rotting on contact, and not even we, the guards, can hold on. However, it seems that some senior officers with higher cultivation ranks can hold on for a short amount of time.
“We quickly discovered that the black fog has hallucinogenic effects. Many workers and guards who went into the black fog started to hallucinate. They all became crazier and crazier.
“The work in the mines clearly can’t continue. We’ve contacted all of the miners to move toward the surface… But this black fog is everywhere, so we aren’t sure whether everyone has evacuated successfully.
“Our mission is to search for anyone who might still be down here. A long time ago, the madam said we couldn’t abandon anyone trapped in the mines, so we can’t bring shame to the madam and the Yu clan.”
Zu An couldn't help but give Yu Yanluo a look when he saw that. Yu Yanluo didn’t feel proud at all, and her expression was filled with grief. Zu An held her ice-cold hand, then continued reading. The later entries became more and more illegible and intermittent.
“...Bad news today. Black fog has appeared in the middle of our path. We can’t return…
“But we can’t give up on our mission. We’re going to look around first and gather all the trapped workers. Captain Ding told us that Cloudcenter City has already been informed about what happened here. Madam will send people to save us. The Yu clan won’t abandon a single person; I trust the madam…
“The madam really is beautiful. If we could personally meet the madam, I wouldn’t even care about a reward. Just being able to see the madam up close would already be a blissful thing.”
Zu An felt some grief when he saw that. The guard had still been fantasizing about his achievements allowing him to receive a reward from Yu Yanluo. Unfortunately, he hadn’t known that something major had happened in Cloudcenter City. Yu Yanluo had been accused of being a fiend race person, while Yu Xuansu and any others who could help the people in the mine had also been arrested. The Yu clan was a complete mess, so none of them had known that something had happened at the mine. How could they send anyone to rescue the trapped people? The miners had been waiting for nothing.
Anger appeared in Yu Yanluo’s eyes when she saw that. She no longer seemed as gentle as before. She was a clan leader, and thus carried responsibility for the entire clan. Because of what Xu Yu had done to her, the people at the mine had been left in a difficult situation. She obviously blamed him.
The two of them quickly kept reading. The reports were getting sloppier and sloppier. The writer’s hands had definitely been shaking badly while he was writing.
“People are disappearing every day. My companions grow fewer and fewer…
“Even the captain has disappeared! He’s our leader, and the one with the highest cultivation rank among us!
“There’s something even more terrifying than the black fog, and it’s everywhere. What exactly is that thing?!”